Like algolagnia, sexual fetichism rests upon a physiological basis, and is merely a more or less abnormal increase of fetichistic ideas and perceptions, which are rooted in the very nature of the sexual attraction.
By fetichism (derived from the Portuguese feitico Italian fetisso—magic, charm) we understand the limitation of love, its transference from the entire personality to a portion of this personality, or, it may be, to some lifeless physical object related to the personality.[627] This fascinating “portion” of the beloved personality, or the “object” associated with this personality, is the sexual “fetich.” Within physiological limits, the part concerned exercises a particular attraction, and is especially exciting, but in the ideas of the lover it remains associated with the entire personality to which it belongs. Fetichism first becomes abnormal, or pathological, when the partial representation becomes completely divorced from the general representation of the personality, so that, for example, a plait of hair or a pocket-handkerchief is loved alone and by itself, disconnected from the person to whom it belongs.
The development of love can always be referred to fetichistic ideas, for when we examine critically the first general impression which the beloved makes upon the lover, we always find that there are certain parts or functions which have made the greatest impression, and have exercised a greater erotic influence than other portions. To the former of these, therefore, the imagination and the sensibility more especially cleave. In my “Contributions to the Etiology of Psychopathia Sexualis” (vol. ii., p. 311), I defined sexual fetiches as peculiar symbols of the essence of the beloved personality, with which the idea of the entire type is most readily associated. M. Hirschfeld later enunciated the same views.
As sexual fetiches we may have: (1) Portions of the body; (2) functions and emanations of the body; and (3) objects which have any kind of relation to the body.
Under (1) we may enumerate the hand, the foot, the nose, the ears, the eyes, the hair of the head, the hair of the beard, the throat and the back of the neck, the breasts, the hips, the genital organs, the buttocks, the calves. All these parts may constitute sexual fetiches.
The same is true of all the influences enumerated under (2)—viz., gait, movement, voice, glance, odour, complexion.
Under (3) we may enumerate the clothing as a whole (as costume) and in its individual parts, upper-clothing and underclothing, hat, eyeglasses, way of dressing the hair, necktie, bodice, corset, chemise, petticoat, stockings, shoes or boots, apron, handkerchief, clothing materials (fur, satin, silk), the colour of clothing (mourning, parti-coloured blouses, white clothing, uniform), fashion (cul de Paris, décolleté and retroussé, tricot); indeed, clothing fetichism goes so far that a particular shape of the heel of the shoe, a particular mode of ornamentation of some particular part of the clothing, and, finally, any striking part of the clothing, may become a sexual fetich.
This fetichistic influence is further increased by a peculiar characteristic of human love. This is its tendency towards idealization, beautification, and enlargement of those parts which especially affect the senses. This beautification and idealization extends from the body to the clothing, and to articles in general, used by the beloved person, but normally remains associated with the entire personality. It is first by means of the enlargement and accentuation of a distinct part that this becomes separated from the general idea, and thus its removal and conversion into a “fetich” is prepared for. In the chapter on clothing we drew attention to this general anthropological phenomenon of the enlargement and accentuation of many parts by means of such measures as painting, articles of clothing, exposure, way of doing the hair, etc.
Inasmuch as now, by the ideal and actual accentuation of the part under consideration, it is projected as a more independent structure, and separates itself from the personality as a whole, it is involuntarily isolated in idea by the fetichist, and becomes generalized to constitute an independent stimulus, which may now, temporarily or permanently, completely take the place of the personality as a whole.
This physiological process embraces both the “lesser” and the “greater” fetichism of Binet.